“SHANGHAI ALIAS MALAPPURAM”

most cities in india dream of one day becoming “Shanghai” – the heart of chinese economic miracle. they all dream of a future where skyscrappers and expressways will replace slums and gutters. it’s not what we palakkad-an’s dream of , we just want to be the next malappuram the fast developing Shanghai to the north .

why is our district the most backward ?. is having a 70 hindu population the reason? or is it that we are supposed to be always the picture perfect valluvanadan villages for the mollywood? what ever the reason , we the people of the district are the only ones to be blamed.

yes i am envious of malappuram , envious of the pace at which they have rushed past the economic stagnation of the 80s , envious of the kind of leaders they elect and the say they have on the way the state is run. the infrastructure development is astonishing, almost all the major roads are rubberized and broad , they have some of the best hospitals in the state , shopping malls and hangouts are world class . you have MLA s fighting to better the achievements of their predecessors , ministers promising medical colleges , political parties fighting for the ‘right number’ of ministers. wow…

your neighbour to the south , us , we are proud of being the largest district( by area) , for being the hottest region and many other trivial stuff , and ya for being the most illiterate district and the one with the worst sslc results. our leaders don’t care and we care less, hence we elect anyone who runs on the “party ” ticket . green or white we will always vote red , hence we shornurites voted a lady whose track record as sreekrishnapuram MLA was shameful with huge majority . yes it is true that we don’t have the “vote bank” or the gulf ” black money” but at least we could elect someone capable , can’t we? . iam not a communist hater or a congressman , i still believe that the best MLA kerala has ever seen is mr v.sasikumar of perinthalmanna , but the cpm in our district always field weak candidates , congress is no exception but mr c.p mohammed of pattambi is a clear exception.

the infrastructure in the district is dismal , we are in dire need of a good hospital ,the two major railway stations urgently need a face lift . education sector needs critical attention , we cannot afford to be the worst in this knowledge era . protests wont work , actions needs to be taken , if not we will always remain the laughing stock of kerala.

RAILWAY JAM

railway budget is that part of the year when malayalam newspapers brings out long list of demands  – more trains , railway over bridges , new lines etc . with two railway ministers ( minister of state) we have achieved a lot especially new trains most of which passes through valluvanad . but with no adequate infrastructure ( railway over bridges) these new trains have become burden to the common man.

angadipuram

angadipuram railway crossing sits on NH213 between palakkad and kozhikode  just 2km from perinthalmanna , it is crossed by hundreds of vehicles including buses to calicut , manjeri , valanchery and kottakal . with the introduction of some new trains and the late running of the existing ones traffic jams extending for nearly a km is frequent here , it takes 20 to 30 minutes to reach perinthalmanna from angadipuram . this jam spills over to perinthalmanna especially the speeding buses regaining the lost time getting to a halt at the bottle neck in front of the town mosque and the old bus stand . the  buses which ply this route usually run at over speed either to ‘escape’ a KSRTC or to be on ‘TIME’ this in most cases leading to a nightmarish journey for the thousands who use this route . every time i get stuck there i think why a train which usually run empty have to create such a big menace to so many people , why the hell did manorama run long demand lists which include more trains to nilambur every year ? , does this person who compile the demand list ever seen the sufferings that the people in this region go through due to these new  trains which maximum carry a 200 people .

i myself am a victim of these nilambur road passengers . i am a daily traveler on the valanchery route which in  itself is a nightmare due to the KSRTC -private buses that race each other  , on top of that when the gate closes for the train to pass there will be a backlog of both these buses which competes through the  treacherous hairpin bends after puthanangadi .on my return it takes 40 minutes to reach perinthalmanna from MES ( which used to be a 20 min one) ,the bus to cherpulassery a long distance mayilvahanam from calicut which usually gets late due to the traffic skips cherpulassery stand , making me and my fellow co passengers walk .

wadakkanchery

the level cross at wadakkanchery is the busiest in kerala as far as the train traffic is concerned , it also lies on the main artey connecting thrissur with valluvanad . from my experience whether by car or bus you cannot cross it without being stuck there for one train or in cases two trains . this was such a burden for me and my fellow students who raced during the sunday coaching classes  , as the gate opens vehicles would pour out racing to get to thrissur . once i was stuck there for three trains to pass , when it opened we had 6 buses racing to shornur it was quiet a ‘thrilling’ ride , in another situation our car was almost hit by a bus which was competing with three others . the wadakkanchery overbridge is a work in progress for the last decade , still unfinished .

so the people who write these demand lists must atleast think of the thousands who suffer on a daily basis , and  must first consider the existing infrastructure .  I would also like to request  Mr E.Ahamed  who is hell bend on bringing new trains to please consider these facts  .

VALLUVANAD DISTRICT

valluvanad was one of the early administrative divisions of the Chera kingdom.it once stretched from the Arabian sea to the attapadi hills and from nila up to melattur.the area passed through various hands including samuthiri and tippu sultan,intermingled with years of self-rule. under the british most of the region came under valluvanad taluk of madras state.post independence and with the creation of the malappuram district the region was split up among the palakkad,malappuram and thrissur districts.

a new district of valluvanad could be carved out of these district owing to the following reasons:

1 the immense size of palakkad district.to get to palakkad one have to travel nearly 70km from the western most parts of the ottapalam taluk

2 nearly 36 lakh population of malappuram district

3 cultural similarity of ottapalam,perinthalmanna and mannarkkad taluks and their differences with the rest of palakkad district.

4 ottapalam taluk in itself has a population higher than wayanad district,and the fact that nearly 40% of palakkad district resides there . but this region is far away from the district hq

the district of valluvanad will be composed of as i said earlier – ottapalam,perinthalmanna and mannarkkad taluks, together with parts of talapally taluk and parts of ponnani taluk. the proposed district will have a population of over 20 lakhs and will be financially viable as the region has many important towns like

ottapalam(pop 50,000)

shornur(pop 45,000)

perinthalmana(44,000)

which are municipalities

and others like

mannarkad(pop 44,000)

cherpulassery(pop 30,000)

pattambi(pop 24,000)

the district headquarters could be either at perinnthalmanna or ottapalam ,though ottapalam have better infrastructure including a kendriya vidyalaya.

the mannarkkad taluk must be partitioned so that attapady region remains with the palakkad district and the subsequent creation of an attapadi taluk, can bring about development to the region.the border regions of talapally taluk like thiruvilluwamala and cheruthuruthy  could be added to the district .this is mainly because of the cultural affliction of these areas to the erstwhile valluvanad.

the bifurcation of malappuram and palakkad districts is the only way forward as malappuram’s population explodes and palakkad remains far away from its most populous taluk.

RAIN INTENSIFIES

malampuzha dam

the rains which have been continuing for the past few days have intensified.the situation is related to the depression that developed in the Arabian sea and which is heading north towards Gujarat as a cyclone.at the mean time north east monsoon is wrecking havoc in tamilnadu killing at least 50 people.all this h

ave contributed to a rise in water levels in the malampuzha and the kanjirapuzha dams,forcing the authorities to open the dams.the alert issued yesterday still remains valid to the areas adjoining bharatapuzha and thoothapuzha.

met department predicts heavy rains in the coming 24hrs .

RAINS TO CONTINUE FOR TWO MORE DAYS

heavy rains that lashed the region yesterday

the rains which started on the Friday is to continue for at least two more days this is according to the met department.STRONG WINDS and THUNDER STORMS are expected in the evening hours.the flood like situation on the banks on BHARATAPUZHA that i reported yesterday have receded .the government have promised the immediate reconstruction of the mulathara regulator.but still the low lying areas are on a flood alert as the parambikulam aliyar dam is  near its DANGER MARK  and the shutters may open at any time.